Cape Verde’s World Cup debut delivered one of the tournament’s first seismic shocks: a 0-0 draw with European champions Spain in Atlanta. The architect of that stalemate was Josimar “Vozinha” Dias, a 40-year-old goalkeeper without a club, who repelled all seven of Spain’s shots on target and was named Player of the Match. For a nation of fewer than 600,000 people appearing on this stage for the first time, the point felt like a victory, and Vozinha’s reflexes became an instant global story.

Yet the most enduring image from that night came after the final whistle. Vozinha wept as he explained that his mother, Ana Candida Évora, had been unable to secure a US visa to watch him play. His grandparents, who raised him, had passed away; the one parent who could witness his triumph was stranded by the costs and bureaucratic hurdles of the Trump administration’s immigration rules. The footage travelled far beyond the sports pages. In Washington, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives and himself of Cape Verdean descent, contacted Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department moved swiftly, and by Friday Évora had landed on American soil, her visa approved in time for Cape Verde’s second group match against Uruguay in Miami on Sunday.

The goalkeeper’s sudden fame is measurable in digits. Before the Spain match his Instagram account counted roughly 50,000 followers; four days later the figure surpassed 14 million. In Praia, a giant image of Vozinha was hoisted onto a waterfront facade as crowds gathered to celebrate a new national symbol. The man at the centre of the storm, however, has tried to keep the focus narrow. “I’ve always been a focused person,” he told reporters at the team’s training camp. “Please let’s speak about football.” He is without a club after his contract with Portuguese second-tier side Chaves expired, and his priority is the next fixture.

Cape Verde now sit on a point in Group H, with Uruguay and Saudi Arabia still to come. Vozinha acknowledged the squad’s ambition but also its limits: “We are from a small country, a small national team, but we have a lot of quality.” The reunion with his mother will add emotional resonance to Sunday’s contest, yet the sporting stakes are clear. Another resolute performance could edge the Blue Sharks closer to a knockout-round place that, before a ball was kicked, belonged strictly to the realm of fantasy.